Advantages of a Pharmacy Career

The popular choices of a child's future career usually include police officers, lawyers, and firefighters. However, the profession of pharmacists is often overlooked. Whether you are interested in becoming a pharmacist or reaffirming your career choice if you are one currently, here are some advantages of a pharmacy career.

Pharmacists Are In Demand

The current demand for pharmacists is high, as a result of the technological growth in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, as well as the increase in the elderly population. With the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy predicting a shortfall of pharmacists by about 157,000 by 2020, the demand will definitely increase.

Pharmacists Are Financially Secure

The median annual wage for pharmacists in May 2015, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics was $121,000. Approximately 10% of pharmacists made less than $86,000. If the current demand is factored in, then the median income will increase.

You Get To Directly Interact With Patients

Since most pharmacies are located in grocery stores or residential neighborhoods, the pharmacists get the opportunity to work with persons in the area. The relationship between patients and their pharmacist is able to develop, because of the accessibility.

Pharmacists Can Work Virtually Anywhere

A pharmacy can be located in a distant country town, as well as in the center of a bustling city. Consequently, the location flexibility that pharmacists enjoy, is what many positions find enviable.

You Get To Help People

Although many professions claim to help people, the medical field takes that bragging right one step further. Doctors, nurses, and pharmacists get the opportunity to make people get well. They can enjoy the fact that their job is to assist people to heal, and only a handful of careers get the opportunity to fulfill this calling.

The Drug Care and Security Act of 2013 increased the standards for the pharmaceutical process, and this should also improve the security of the pharmacist profession. The outlook on pharmacists should hopefully be a bit brighter, as the decision to pursue a career in pharmacology should never be a bitter pill to swallow.

Comments

My father was a pharmacist in his local home area where he was brought up. That meant he also knew people's backgrounds which was also useful for helping them. Mind you, he owned his own shop and in those days, the financial rewards were not as high. It also required work in the evenings to get the accounts ready.

I think a lot of people just don't know what pharmacists do. We all see them when we go to pick up our prescriptions but many don't know what the job actually involves and how involved in medical care they get to be. I certainly didn't know until I became a nurse and started having to call on pharmacists for advice